McNeil: Access to info working fine

Premier rejects suggestion that privacy officer should report to legislature

Premier Stephen McNeil said the province’s access to information system can always use improvement, but he believes it is working well for Nova Scotians.

Earlier this week, the province announced Catherine Tully is the new freedom of information and protection of privacy review officer. Tully, whose term is for five to seven years, begins work in September.

She is the director of access and privacy for Canada Post and before that worked as the assistant information and privacy commissioner for British Columbia.

McNeil said Tully was “the very best person available.”

Unlike most jurisdictions in Canada, Nova Scotia’s review officer is not an officer of the legislature. Instead, the review office falls under the purview of the justice minister, which means the office’s budget is at the discretion of the minister. Being an officer of the legislature would also mean the review officer could be called before committees of the legislature.

McNeil said he doesn’t think that change is necessary. He said the system seems to work fine as is.

“People have access to information, and at (this) point, we’re going to continue with the process that’s been working.”

Whether the process has been working could be considered a matter of opinion. As of last week, the review office had 228 open files, including 70 that are at the intake stage.

According to Carmen Stuart, the acting review officer, six of those files date back to 2009. None are older than that.

McNeil said backlogs are not unique to Nova Scotia and every jurisdiction is looking for ways to cut down the wait. He said he thinks Tully’s expertise will help cut into the backlog and “ensure that we continue to provide and continue to improve service that we deliver to organizations and Nova Scotians who are looking for access to information.”

The premier said he is always looking to improve the system and he expects Tully will bring with her ideas for how to do the same.